Professional Development

Education

Design

The Geisler Art Room

The Geisler Art Room is a Choice-Based Art Studio. This means students are guided on their own creative journey. Students are encouraged to experiment, make mistakes, reflect, and present. We do this through various methods such as material investigations, themes, and skill building practice. At geisler we use artsonia as a portfolio for our work.

To learn more about the Geisler Art Room check out the Website

Education

Design

My Role:

The various professional development presentations below have been of my creation, research and expertise.

Target Audience:

The general target audience is K12 classroom educators. I have since broken these down into 4 types

New and Begining Teachers
Master Teachers
Mid-Career Teachers
School Adminstrators

Initial Concepts:

At the beginning of my teaching journey, I utilized a method known as DBAE (Discipline-Based Art Education). This traditional approach to teaching art was likely the same style I experienced as a young artist. In this method, the teacher presents the lesson, connects it to the project, and guides everyone to create the same project, with the teacher directing all creative decisions. All of the creative energy is harnessed by the teacher, all of the choices are made by the teacher.

About 3 years into my career I began to look around my classroom and I realized that not everyone was getting the true meaning of what art is. Every student was different. Not only did I have the 5 personas I created but I had a whole bunch more. Each student was unique, extending beyond the five personas I initially identified. Some students would never pursue art again after leaving my 7th-grade class, while others were disengaged due to the lack of creative stimulation.

This realization prompted me to explore alternative teaching methods, leading me to adopt TAB (Teaching for Artistic Behavior) over the last decade. TAB empowers students to make artistic decisions and express their creative energy independently.

Initially, I offered students three choices and expected them to select one. While this was a good starting point, I have since integrated and modified these three curriculums over the years, making them iterative, adaptable, and never static. Each year, I tailor the curriculum to suit the student's evolving needs and occasionally adjust it to address my own challenges, such as budget constraints in recent years.

Challenges Faced or Constraints:

Switching to a TAB curriculum is not one that is easy. It comes with a lot of challenges. It is best to take it slow. Initially, I underestimated the effort required to implement a flipped classroom model. Instead of creating projects, the focus shifted to developing resources for students to explore their artistic abilities. Breaking down assignments into smaller segments helped me create resources incrementally, starting with utilizing existing videos or tutorials before developing my own.

One significant struggle I encounter is that while some students excel in this setup, others find it challenging. Students who prefer a structured environment or those placed in the class struggle more.

Reflecting yearly, I noticed two main issues: the leniency in assignment deadlines leads to procrastination, and some students require task-specific assignments, even though it may seem too standardized. My curriculum has evolved to meet the demands for flexibility. In the past year, my groups required more task-specific assignments compared to the open-ended ones from previous years.

A persistent challenge lies in navigating administrative support. Initially, the progressive administration embraced student autonomy, but subsequent changes in leadership brought varying levels of support for student-directed learning.

Continuously advocating for student creativity has been demanding but illuminating, highlighting areas where teaching practices can evolve and improve.

Next Steps:

Continuing to develop this curriculum involves creating, adapting, and updating the supplementary materials with the content of my creation.

Exploring ways to better support ESL and Special Education students by incorporating accessibility features, curated content, or alternate simplified curriculums.

Finally, I plan to continue to use surveys, inquiry, and testing to gather feedback throughout the development process to ensure a seamless user experience.